Culiacán: The most dangerous city in Mexico

We consider Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico as a lawless city. One which should be avoided for general tourism. We arrived at this conclusion based largely on the events of 17 October and those which followed.

About Culiacán

Culiacán is the capitol of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. It has a population of approximately 800,000 and is located about 40 miles from the Pacific coast and 135 miles from the Mexican resort town of Mazatlan. Though it is a center of agriculture and the source of many a vegetable in the United States, it is most infamously known for it also being the center-point of the Sinaloa Cartel, led for many years by drug lord Joaquín Guzmán aka “El Chapo.” 

While some may argue that there are more dangerous cities in Mexico (Ecatepec, Ciudad Juarez, Vera Cruz, Uruapan) the fact that the Sinaloa Cartel controls the streets of Culiacán and has shown itself capable and willing to thwart the efforts of law enforcement within the city is our basis for our travel advisory.

Culiacán gun battle of 17 October

The afternoon of 17 October the Mexican National Guard mounted an operation to arrest the son of El Chapo, Ovidio Guzmán. They successfully had Ovidio in custody.  Shortly thereafter, Ovidio’s half-brother, Ivan Guzmán mounted a well-orchestrated counter-attack to secure his brother’s release. The running battle took place not in a remote part of the city, but in the Tres Rios area of the city, often viewed as among the most affluent neighborhoods of Culiacán.

The carnage which followed shocked all within Mexico, as well as abroad. The law enforcement elements on the ground that day opted to release Ovidio and stem the bloodshed. The fact that the cartel was able to out-gun and out-maneuver law-enforcement was sobering to all.

Sinaloa Cartel apologizes

Immediately after, the Sinaloa Cartel published an apology to the citizens of Culiacán, in which they assumed responsibility and called for the government of Mexico to also assume responsibility.

The goodwill from the Sinaloa Cartel lasted less than a month, when they meted out their brand of justice. On 6 November, Eduardo Triana Sandoval, 32-years of age and a member of the Sinaloa State Police was assassinated by two gunman who followed him into a strip-mall parking lot. The attack was captured on a building’s CCTV security camera.

Bring tourism back to Sinaloa

The early-November 2019 efforts of Governor of Sinaloa, Quirino Ordaz Coppel, who met with Intercamaral (consisting of the ten most influential business organizations within Culiacán) are laudable. The group of civic leaders met to discuss the creation of a revised tourism strategy and cultural repositioning of the state capitol Culiacán. Their intent was to move 17 October as far back into history as possible and “attract more visitors to Culiacán, through artistic, cultural and sporting events.” He continued, how the hoteliers and gastronomic industries must “turn the page.”

The United States has declared the state of Sinaloa a “Do Not Travel” zone. Limiting U.S. government employee travel to Mazatlan by air or sea ONLY. We previously declared Acapulco a “no go zone” for tourists and business travel and reiterated this advice in a November 2019 update where we stated Acapulco remains an unsafe destination.

Much of our advice in “How to manage your Mexico vacation and not get shot” discusses avoiding being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The gun battle which occurred in Culiacán on 17 October demonstrates just how difficult it is for those who reside in a city to avoid the carnage. The situation for a visitor would be infinitely more difficult due to lack of area knowledge.

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